Injuries slow Stanford men's quest for postseason

Stanford badly needs another big win on the road to enhance its postseason credentials. To get its first road win against UCLA since 2005 on Thursday night, it will have to overcome its lack of depth.

Rosco Allen, a promising sophomore forward, is still out with a stress fracture in his foot. His is the latest in a long list of Cardinal injuries in recent seasons, raising the question of whether head coach Johnny Dawkins works his players too hard.

Dawkins doesn't think so, and Mark Madsen, the former Stanford forward who worked on Dawkins' staff last season, came to his defense Wednesday.

"He understands the need for rest, having played at the college and pro levels," said Madsen, now a player-development coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. "He has a great balance of knowing when to rest guys or play 5-on-5 (in practice). He tapers quite a bit as the season goes along."

Madsen said other college programs push their players in practice "way more than Coach Dawkins is doing."

Madsen thinks many college players, at Stanford and elsewhere, are victims of a system that leads to overuse because elite high school players have to play in AAU programs in the summer to get exposure to college coaches. Others have personal trainers at a young age, he said. "A lot of guys come in with a lot of wear and tear," he said.

Dawkins said there's no telling when Allen will return. Dawkins pointed out that Allen spent much of the summer with the Hungarian under-20 national team. He led the team to the semifinals of the U20 European Championship Division B tournament in Romania.

"He had no down time whatsoever," Dawkins said. "That's a lot on your body. I think it took its toll on him."

After missing Stanford's first 11 games, Allen played seven minutes against Cal Poly on Dec. 29 and hasn't played since then. Allen might have come back too soon, but what he thinks about it is impossible to say because he is unavailable to the media, according to a school spokesman.

Allen's injury comes on top of season-ending injuries to two of last year's starters, forward Andy Brown (the latest of three major knee injuries) and guard Aaron Bright (shoulder), as well as reserve guard Christian Sanders (hip).

Like many college coaches, Dawkins has had to work around numerous injuries in his six seasons on the Farm. Last season, swingman Anthony Brown missed all but four games with a hip injury, and Bright was hampered by shoulder and ankle injuries.

Andy Brown (knee) and backup guard Gabe Harris (knee) missed most of the 2011-12 season. In 2010-11, center Stefan Nastic was out almost the whole season with a stress fracture, forward Andrew Zimmerman missed time with a stress fracture, and Andy Brown didn't play at all.

"We have the (NCAA restricted) hours that we normally practice, like everyone else," Dawkins said. "I look around the country, and a lot of players are getting banged-up. That's part of the process. ... You're very fortunate if you go through a whole season and all your players remain healthy."

Injuries are an unfortunate part of college basketball, he said: "We're not going to change what we do."

Briefly: In the postseason credentials file, Stanford's win at then-No. 10 UConn has been devalued by the Huskies' subsequent losses to Houston and SMU. Oregon was ranked 17th when it lost to Stanford (12-5, 3-2 Pac-12). The Ducks are 1-4 in the conference. ... UCLA (14-4, 3-2) dropped out of the Top 25 after losing at Utah on Saturday.